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Hudson: Outing vs. Mets was 'great work day'

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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Saying he feels as strong, physically, as he has "in a "really, really long time," veteran right-hander Tim Hudson doubled his pitch count since his last outing, tossing nearly 80 pitches on Monday against the Mets.

The 37-year-old worked through the fourth inning of his third Grapefruit League start, facing at least four hitters in each frame. He threw a total of 79 pitches (46 for strikes) and faced 18 hitters, after seeing 11 batters his last time out. He said he threw about 40 pitches in his previous start.

"It was good work for me," Hudson said. "I wasn't worth a crap today, but I was able to work on big-situation pitches every inning. … It was a great work day. Obviously, I would not be happy with it at all if this was June, but that's what Spring Training's for."

The Mets got on the board against Hudson in the first, when Ike Davis doubled into the left-center-field gap with two outs and came around to score on a Marlon Byrd RBI single to left.

The second run that Hudson allowed came in the third, when Matt den Dekker singled to lead off the frame, stole second, advanced on a deep fly ball to center and scored on a Byrd sacrifice fly.

"About 75 of those 80 were stress pitches," Hudson said.

Hudson struck out two, walked one and surrendered two runs on six hits.

"I felt fine," he said. "It was nice and cool today. My pitch count was pretty high, but I felt pretty fresh. My legs felt pretty strong, considering it was this early in spring. You never want to throw too much this early in spring, but it was a good day to get some work in. I wasn't overly tired out there."